90. More Than Words

Christian woke me up the next morning knocking on my door. I’d slept maybe four hours and sat up in bed with all my clothes on, wondering if the house was on fire. “The mail’s here,” he was saying.

I pulled open the door and he thrust an oversize envelope into my hands. “What is it?”

“That’s what I want to know, stud. It’s got your name on it personally so I didn’t open it.”

The address label said it came from an office in New York and was made out to “Daron M., Moondog Three HQ” and our Allston street address, not our PO Box. “It’s gotta be from Jonathan.” I tore open the envelope and four slick copies of Spin magazine spilled out into my hands.

Ziggy’s quizzical face stared out at me. I barely recognized myself standing behind him a little to his left. Bart and Christian were shoulder to shoulder way in the back and to the right. “What a weird shot,” I murmured.

Chris looked at his own copy. “Yeah, funny. This wasn’t even posed–looks almost like an accidental shot that went off while we were standing around casually.”

“It probably is.” I put the magazines down on top of the pile of milk crates that held my tapes, albums and CDs. (Did I mention working in a record store is dangerous?)

“Aren’t you going to read it?”

“Maybe later.”

Christian shrugged and took his copy into the living room. I took a shower and went to the basement to play around some more on steel string acoustic. It was frigid down there and I turned on the electric heater. The place would be warmed up by the time the others arrived.

Michelle dropped Bart off around two with Kentucky Fried Chicken in a bucket and we sat in the living room eating while Chris badgered me about reading the article. (“I’ll read it when I’m fucking ready to read it, alright?”) Bart read it, closed the magazine without expression and said “Let’s go downstairs.”

Chris said he’d come downstairs when Ziggy showed, so Bart and I went down and jammed almost the way we used to. We came up for air about two hours later and Ziggy still hadn’t arrived. I wanted to wait until he was there before playing the others the tape of what I’d done last night. I’d multi-tracked a demo with a drum machine part and bass line, and sung what words I’d written. I was, actually, pretty damn happy with how it sounded. But I wanted to wait until he came to share it. The song was, in my mind, now called “Midnight.”

We went back downstairs and Bart slung his bass over his shoulder, then sat down on a milkcrate and said “Why won’t you read the article?”

“I will.”

“It’s interesting the spin they put on things.”

“Things? And was that a pun?”

“OK, the spin they put on everything, anything. You never know how what you said is going to be presented.”

“No lie, bwana. That’s what I’m afraid of.” I ran my fingers along the strings of the Ovation, making them squeak. “What did you say in it?”

“Why don’t you just read it?”

“Alright, alright.” I tromped back up the stairs and sat down on the couch and started to read.

The article began simply enough, a description of one of the bus legs of the trip, when Jonathan had ridden with us, some snippets of conversation. After some about what our live show was like, it went into sections about our personalities and biography. Ziggy first–I learned some things about him that I hadn’t known before: his father was Latin American and his mother was some kind of mediterranean mix of Greek and Italian and Turkish. (Turkish?) He spent part of his childhood in Florida, and then the family moved to Baltimore, then when his parents divorced he and his mother had moved to New York City. So many things I’d never asked him about because I didn’t want to tell him the answers to the same questions. And then my eyes skipped down the column to the direct Q&A section and Ziggy saying “I can’t complain. It’s brought me a host of new experiences. It’s a lifestyle which encourages experimentation.”

Let them think he’s talking about drugs, I thought to myself. Please.

Next came the section about me and I had to stop.

P.S. SOME SITE NEWS:
So August is Web Serial Writing Month. It’s like NaNoWriMo except it’s WeSeWriMo. To participate, we’ll be posting three times a week in the month of August, AND there will be at least two liner notes posts! The bonus rule will still apply, though — each time the tip jar reaches $25, an additional post will be triggered. (Ahem, btw, it’s been a while since a bonus post was triggered. Just sayin. You can always buy Daron a beer.) So some weeks there could be up to FIVE posts, four story posts and a liner note. Wouldn’t that be cool?

While I’m on the subject, though, there are three ways to help DGC that take no money at all.

The first is to tell people about the site. Word of mouth brings in the most readers, and more readers is more everything.

The second is to comment on the posts. As you may have noticed, if you address Daron in your comment, he’ll answer. You are very welcome to get into a conversation with him if you like, and when you do, you’re helping us to create a new art form. Kinda neat, eh?

Third is every time you read a chapter, click on the “Top Web Fiction” voting link. Your votes keep us near the top of the ranking at Top Web Fiction, where a fair number of people discover new things to read. (Here’s a link if you want to VOTE NOW…)

Oh, I thought of a fourth. Write a review at the Web Fiction Guide and give us five stars. The star ratings also help bump us up on some reading lists and rankings, and the reviews help readers figure out if DGC is something they’d enjoy. Your review doesn’t have to be a postmodern lit crit essay. Just say what you enjoy about the novel, story, or characters.

Wait, thought of a fifth. If you know of places on the web where serialized fiction can be listed, promoted, or discussed, let us know! The EpiGuide, Web FIction Guide, the Tuesday Serial Collector, what else is out there? If you find something, drop us a comment, tweet at us, etc!

We now return you to your regular web reading experience! Enjoy!

9 Comments

  • D. says:

    Caught up, finally; I’ve been meaning to for ages. Although I’m kind of sad I did, because now I have to wait for more, but it’s most definitely worth waiting for.

    So much <3 for Ziggy and Daron and all the boys, constantly caught between heartbreak and hope as I read.

  • Jude says:

    I’m hearing the theme to “Jaws” now…

  • Jude says:

    Also, I’ve got my series listed on Muse’s Success (http://muses-success.info), but now I’m glad to have two more places to try to grab readers! Thanks for listing yours!

    • ctan says:

      @Jude — Oh, I have a bookmark to Muse’s Success but maybe I haven’t done anything there yet. Also, another writer just pointed me at a site called Booksie. It looks like it should be possible for me to post chapters there that link here, sort of like I do on LiveJournal (only not automated).

      @Kate B. — Daron used to be too shy himself, but lately he’s gotten over it. He likes the Internet.

  • Kate B says:

    I sometimes don’t post because I am crushed out on Daron and far too shy to talk to him.

    😀

    Trufax.

    But OMFG cliffhanger doh

  • BriAnne says:

    *cue ominous music* It’ll be okay, Daron.

    … hopefully.

  • daron says:

    aah! See what happens when I step away from the keyboard for too long? Yeah.

    @D. Caught Between Heartbreak and Hope. Good name for an album, eh? Sums up my state of being pretty well.

    @Jude — Beethoven’s 5th works good too. No, wait, 9th. Dammit, I always get those mixed up.

    @BriAnne — Thanks. I’ve kind of learned that just because I’m freaked out doesn’t mean everything’s gone wrong… but that doesn’t keep me from being freaked anyway.

  • Kim VanOver says:

    I have to say I’m so hooked on the Daron, Ziggy relationship. My heart goes out to Daron, I feel his pain, the torment of his inner demons. Ziggy, Ziggy….oh Ziggy, I feel all you are asking for is for Daron to truly aknowledge how important you really are to him.

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